President Biden has signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law.
The law earlier passed both houses on a narrow party-line vote.
U.S. Sen. Chris Coons’ office stated that the American Rescue Plan includes a direct allocation of federal assistance of about $1.36 billion to Delaware and its municipalities.
It also features $1,400 direct checks to many Delawarean adults and children, vaccine distribution, funding for schools, an extension of expanded unemployment benefits through the summer, along with grants for restaurants and other small businesses.
Eligible families will get an extra $1,400 payment per child and adult dependent, amounting to $5,600 for an average family of four. More than one in three households – including half of Black and Latino households – are currently struggling to pay for daily expenses, the release from Coons’ office stated.
Republicans claim the bill is too costly, with much of the money going to non-Covid purposes, and will spur inflation. They further claim that the funding rewards high-spending, high-tax states.
Tune in as President Biden signs the American Rescue Plan. https://t.co/ZfpKjSkA8w
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 11, 2021
A recent poll indicated that only one in five voters believed the amount of spending was excessive. A larger percentage believes the bill did not go far enough.
The bill ensures that Delaware may avoid tax and fee increases for one or more years.
The bill comes as the economy shows more signs of recovery as Covid-19 cases begin to decline but remain above the pandemic’s low point following a spring surge.
The plan makes the Child Tax Credit fully refundable and increases the credit amount from $2,000 to $3,000 per child age 6 to 17 (and $3,600 per child below the age of 6).
The plan increases the Earned Income Tax Credit for childless workers, many of whom hold lower-paid frontline jobs. With direct checks and the Child Tax Credit combined, a family of four with one child under six and one between six and 17 will receive $8,200 this year.
A total of $20 billion will go for vaccine distribution. Another $50 billion goes to testing and contact tracing, which aims to contain the virus.
The American Rescue Plan includes a new $25 billion grant program for restaurants that Coons coauthored. It also contains $10 billion for the State Small Business Credit Initiative, or SSBCI, which gives longer-term support to Delaware entrepreneurs.
The SSBCI will help reboot a state-led small business lending program, which Delaware used to lend to 110 businesses after the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
“We appreciate Senator Coons for championing and advocating for restaurants,” said Carrie Leishman, president of the Delaware Restaurant Association. “The passage of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and the other programs in this bill will support restaurants across Delaware, helping put our small businesses on the road to recovery. We also appreciate the Senate’s action in increasing the sizeRestaurant Revitalization Fund’s size$28.6 billion, which underscores the fact that restaurants are in vital transition. This relief will help support our restaurants as they begin the long road to recovery.”
Coons advocated for hospital support in the American Rescue Plan, pushing to update the imputed rural floor policy, which restores equitable reimbursement rates for Delaware hospitals. The longstanding policy, which the Trump administration rescinded three years ago, will once again ensure that hospitals in small states, including Delaware, receive the same protections as those in 47 other states.
“Under the Trump reversal, hospitals in three small states have grappled with Covid-19 while receiving millions less from Medicare than similarly situated hospitals in larger states,” Coons said. “The pandemic has made ever more urgent the need to treat hospitals and health systems in all states equitably.”
